Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson sues LPGA over gender eligibility policy
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Trans golfer Hailey Davidson has filed a lawsuit against the LPGA and USGA over their policies banning biological males who have gone through puberty from competing in women’s competition.
The LPGA said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and would “allow this process to proceed in the appropriate forum.”
“The LPGA’s gender policy was developed through a careful, expertly informed process and is based on protecting the competitive integrity of elite women’s golf,” the statement said.
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The USGA and LPGA have changed their gender policies for events in 2025 and beyond, declaring that players must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned to female before entering male puberty to be eligible to compete.
Davidson, 33, didn’t transition until she was a teenager. Davidson competed in the U.S. Open qualifiers and the LPGA Qualifying School in 2024 under a different policy and came up short in both efforts.
Davidson claimed in the lawsuit that the new policy effectively bans transgender women from competing in USGA women’s events, or the LPGA, because many states prevent children from taking hormones or blocking puberty.
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When the USGA denied Davidson participation in the qualifiers, Davidson claimed that Hackensack Golf Club had violated the law by saying that the USGA controlled all decisions regarding eligibility. Davidson began hormone treatments in her early 20s in 2015 and underwent gender confirmation surgery in 2021, which was required under the LPGA’s previous gender policy.
Davidson also filed a lawsuit against the women’s golf tour, NXXT, in December after it changed its policies to prevent biological men from competing against women.
NXXT and its attorneys from America First Legal filed the motion to dismiss in February and believe the case will be dismissed.
“We are asking the courts to dismiss the claims and we are addressing the matter,” NXXT Golf CEO Stuart McKinnon told Fox News Digital.
“It was just about protecting women’s sports. So the goal was really clarity and competitive integrity, and we believe it’s our responsibility as a professional tour to define those categories.”
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NXXT was one of the first women’s tours to take action to make policy changes. The LPGA later changed its own policy in December 2024 to impose more restrictions to protect the women’s division.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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